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UNITED NATIONS: Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi will highlight the Kashmir and Rohingya issues in his address to the 72nd United Nations General Assembly and is likely to use his interactions with American officials to halt a rapid deterioration in US-Pakistan relations.

The prime minister, who reached New York on Monday afternoon, is scheduled to meet a dozen world leaders during his four-day stay, but all eyes are focused on his Sept 21 meeting with US Vice President Mike Pence.

The Trump administration sent not a very subtle message while scheduling President Donald Trump’s engagements with world leaders: Pakistan was kept out of even casual meetings with Mr Trump. The US president’s first casual meeting on Monday was with Bangladesh’s Prime Minister Haseena Wajid when he walked up to her after addressing a UN Management, Security and Development event and greeted her warmly.

Later in the week, President Trump is also scheduled to meet Afghan President Ashraf Ghani. But diplomatic sources in Washington say that PM Abbasi’s meeting with the US vice president also conforms to the Trump administration’s new strategy.

PM is likely to use his Sept 21 meeting with US Vice President Mike Pence to halt deterioration in ties

The administration usually brings forward the vice president for detailed, strategic dialogues and the Abbasi-Pence meeting reflects Washington’s desire for holding serious talks with Pakistan on the Afghan issue.

However, unlike former prime minister Nawaz Sharif last year, Mr Abbasi plans to attend the US president’s reception for the world leaders this week, which could lead to a brief encounter with Mr Trump.

When President Trump announced his new strategy for South Asia in his Aug 21 speech, he blamed Pakistan for continuing to shelter Taliban militants — a charge Pakistan vehemently denies.

But after the speech, US officials said at several briefings that they wanted to hold an extensive dialogue with Pakistan on the Afghan issue because they desired to work with Islamabad in defeating the militants who were a threat to the entire region. Washington also tried to send two delegations to Islamabad but Pakistan asked it to reschedule the meetings.

Briefing the Pakistani media on the prime minister’s engagements in New York, three senior Pakistani officials — Foreign Secretary Tehmina Janjua, Permanent Representative to the UN Maleeha Lodhi and Ambassador Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry — tried to downplay the impact of US-Pakistan relations on his engagements at the UNGA.

“The prime minister is not here for US-Pakistan relations, this is a global meeting,” said Ambassador Lodhi. “Our policies are not unifocal.”

Ambassador Chaudhry said that Washington took the initiative for arranging the Abbasi-Pence talks. “They initiated it because they want to re-engage with Pakistan,” he said. “If you want to define the UNGA as a bilateral event, you will be wrong.”

The foreign secretary said the United States sought to engage Pakistan in their efforts to stabilise Afghanistan because “the Afghan dispute cannot be resolved without Pakistan”.

All three rejected the suggestion that Pakistan had allowed militants to maintain safe havens in the country and outlined Islamabad’s views on this issue.

“Our policies are made in Pakistan. They were never made in Washington and never will be,” said Ambassador Lodhi when asked if the Abbasi-Pence meeting could change Islamabad’s views on Afghanistan.

On DawnNews

Comments (22) Closed

Spells of think-tank

Sep 19, 2017 08:26am

PM Abbasi is quite capable of convincing US about Pak sincere efforts and action against terrorism across the board, and that such operations are in Pak own interests. At the meeting it is hoped that US&Pak will agree to take appropriate actions in unison and close cooperation. Besides they may talk about stragedy for political solution too for Afghan crisis.

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KH

Sep 19, 2017 08:30am

Good luck, Pakistan. Stick to America and comply with its policies will good for Pakistan. China is business minded usurer, and their first and foremost concern is ROI.

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SIS SANDAL

Sep 19, 2017 08:59am

He would have steered the country in the better way if given position from day one.

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sam

Sep 19, 2017 09:28am

Isn't he working way better than Nawaz Sharif. ? in my opinion he is

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Umar

Sep 19, 2017 09:33am

He shouldn't have met pence! Show them some grace!

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Abid

Sep 19, 2017 09:37am

Our substitute PM is not going to be taken seriously ........

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Khalid

Sep 19, 2017 09:43am

Glad to see this development.

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ukz

Sep 19, 2017 09:47am

Good luck PM. We know u will do better than ur predecessor. His performances in previous sessions were despicable.

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Rohin Lenzi

Sep 19, 2017 09:47am

Happy Holidays.

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BYE BYE

Sep 19, 2017 09:51am

Why meeting US President or VP is considered an achievement in the parleys of Pakistan

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Empire

Sep 19, 2017 10:28am

Its hard being a PM of Pakistan on the world stage thanks to decades of bad policies based on support to proxies by the deep state and his predecessors.

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Shah

Sep 19, 2017 10:40am

Very depressing
No one from US administration came to receive him
Compare this to Mr Modi visit
Where do we stand?
Please get real and develop the economy of this land

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Mohd Azhar Ali

Sep 19, 2017 10:55am

Why are we so fascinated to meet President Trump when they are least bothered? Lets not loose self respect and meet only our friends.US is not China. Future belongs to our Chinese brothers. They will be the super power and no. 1 country in the world in next 3-5 years. And Pakistan on CPEC strength would be the second super power of Asia.

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Anti-Corruption_Pakistani

Sep 19, 2017 12:38pm

Huray, our new PM is in UNGA - will he raise Kashmir issue, Rohingya atrocities and Pakistan's efforts to dispel terrorism and keeping peace in the region? Probably not, because his priorities are loyalties are elsewhere!

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FA

Sep 19, 2017 12:56pm

The PM looks quite casual (or in another word - simple) in outlook, which is good I guess.

Video says it all. Can't follow simple protocol of wearing a tie when disembarking at JFK. Way to go PM.

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Saad

Sep 19, 2017 02:59pm

Honestly, this visit is just a formality . Nothing positive will come out of it for Pakistan. The issues that matter the most will get ignored.

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Sarai Alamgir

Sep 19, 2017 03:31pm

Its evident that the Afghans living in the US are playing a huge part in anti Pak statements from the US administration.

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Vikas

Sep 19, 2017 03:59pm

@Dr. Salaria, Aamir Ahmad Welcome to the club.

Which club is this doctor that you keep welcoming everyone to? I am very intrigued and would also like to become a member. How and when do I apply to you?

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Uzair

Sep 19, 2017 11:47pm

Though he'd be taken lightly for being practically 'the back-up' PM with a few months remaining, but, his presentation of Pakistan's position should be remarkably better than that of Nawaz's. This would net a result equivalent to that of Nawaz's visit, which was much to say of.